About Asia-in-Theatre Research Centre

Peter Brook's Mahabharata (1995), The Substation, Singapore

Asia-in-Theatre Research Centre was a theatre group that had carved out a niche for itself on the Singapore theatre scene. According to the late Kuo Pao Kun (then Artistic Director of The Theatre Practice and acknowledged doyen of the Singapore theatre scene), the reason for this was that in terms of performance style, it was the only theatre group in Singapore which blended "..two cultural sources : the Southeast Asianised classical Chinese theatre and that European hybrid of contemporary theatre represented by Ariane Mnouchkine and Peter Brook." The result was that its productions had a visual simplicity that had been described as "stunning" (through its emphasis on the use of colours and textures in sets and costuming) and by an overall performance quality that was likened to a "rhythmic ritual" (Heike Gaessler, Artistic Director, Tacheles Arts Festival, Berlin).

It was only the second theatre group to stage productions outdoors, producing Medea in front of the Fort Gates at Fort Canning Park in 1988, long before the Park became a favourite venue for theatre. It was also possibly the first group to use unusual spaces, staging The Conference of the Birds (1991) and Macbeth (1993) in a disused warehouse in Merbau Road, on the exact spot that is now the premises of the Singapore Repertory Theatre.

Led by its late artistic director, William Teo, Asia-in-Theatre initially gained renown for its productions of Western classics, but branched out later into staging works that were group-researched and written, such as Year Zero: The Historical Tragedy of Cambodia (1996), The Painted House (2000), and works written by the group's resident playwright, Sonny Lim, such as The Nine Weaves series (which was begun in 1998).

Regardless of subject matter, Asia-in-Theatre rarely wavered from its two-fold focus in its productions : first, on the need for strong narratives (rather than abstractions) in all its works, and secondly, on melding together the most relevant and effective stylistic devices from Asian performing traditions in order to do so. Both of these were the hallmarks of the group. If audience response is anything to go by, the performance style of the group contributed much to its impact by serving to intensify the human passions that lay at the core of each story that it chose to tell in its 14-year history. It was partly for this reason that Kuo Pao Kun had remarked that Asia-in-Theatre's remarkably small output belied its impact, and that "..although Asia-in-Theatre has not been very productive (an average of only one production a year), nor has it had a huge audience, the quality of the group’s presence in the Singapore theatre scene outweighs that of companies doing many more shows and commanding bigger audiences."

Among many theatre-goers, the annual productions of Asia-in-Theatre were eagerly-anticipated events.

Asia-in-Theatre Research Centre is currently not operating as a theatre company.


The Nine Weaves Project

Previous Productions

Nouvelles Scenes

Ankara

More Production Photos